


People-Pleaser

by Cyane



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Flirty Marquis de Lafayette, Pansexual Marquis de Lafayette, Slurs, Verbal Abuse, seriously I apologize for everything I'm not even kidding just don't read this and save me the pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 20:57:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10670628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyane/pseuds/Cyane
Summary: Lafayette's in a bad relationship, and the squad is there to get him out.





	People-Pleaser

**Author's Note:**

> the world needs more laf!centric shit *sob*  
> I must be the one to do it
> 
> bc someone has to torture america's favourite fightin frenchman and it's gon be fucking me
> 
>  
> 
> !! wrote this bc while it's important to notice abusive relationships that are physical abuse and/or men, remember that there are other kinds of abuse like verbal/emotional abuse and women can be abusive too !!

Her name was Natalia. 

She was short, with hair the color of purple marmalade and dark eyes. Natalia was quite pretty, wearing expensive top-fashion brands and waking up hours earlier than necessary in order to get herself ready for the day. With eggplant-mauve hair, she was easy to spot in a crowd. 

Despite her unique appearance and brave choice in hair color, John Laurens found that he loathed the girl.

Especially when it was 7:00 on a Saturday morning and she wouldn't stop pounding on the bathroom door. 

"Occupied," John drawled sleepily. The banging on the locked door continued, and he frowned. "Hey! Occupied!" He was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, a hair-straightener in one hand, a rats nest of hair in the other. It was an experience. 

"Hurry up!" The voice snapped from the other side of the door, and John tilted his head back to silently groan as he realized his tormentor was Natalia. 

"It's seven in the fucking morning!" He whined back. "And I've been in here for like, two minutes!" 

Another series of obnoxious knocking came after that, and eventually John tuned it out, his hands tightening in anger. He loved Laf, he really did, but his girlfriend was an asshat. Irritating to no end. And lately she had been spending way too much time at the flat. 

John was halfway through straightening his hair when the knocking paused. He faintly heard the muffled conversation from inside the bathroom.

"Natalia, perhaps we should leave John alone, please, I do not think-" 

That was Laf. Apparently the knocking had woken the man up.

John winced. He hated when Lafayette did that; acting like it had been _his fault_ as well, pretending like he and Natalia had both been knocking on the bathroom door for the past five minutes when it had only been his girlfriend. 

"He's been in there forever!" Natalia snapped back. "Other people need to go in there. God, why do you have to be so insensitive! You'd choose your roommates over your _girlfriend_?"

Oh, right... that was why John hated Lafayette's girlfriend. Because she was a fucking asshole. 

Laf's response was immediate. " _Non_ , of course not! But there are other bathrooms in the apartment complex, _mon amour_ , and-"

John could hear Natalia angrily stomp away, shouting, "That's not what this is about, Lafayette, it's not about a _bathroom_ , it's about you being a horrible boyfriend!"

Even from the bathroom, John could hear the main door slam shut and Laf's tiny, exhausted sigh. 

Damn. 

John set down the straightener and hesitantly opened the bathroom door. Lafayette stood in the hallway, ducking his head. He was still wearing his pyjamas. The expression on his face was nothing short of guilty, and it made John want to punch Natalia's lights out. 

"Are you okay?" John asked quietly. 

Laf grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. " _Oui_. I am sorry about the interruption."

"Hey," John retorted, stretching out his arms to embrace his friend. "It's alright, it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry she said that shit- none of that was true, you know that, right? You're probably the best boyfriend out there, and she's lucky you put up with her shit."

Lafayette just let out another breath. "Thank you, John... I should not have said what I did, however- Natalia is right, it was insensitive. I need to go apologize, _excusez-moi_."

The other man quickly fled from the hallway, following where Natalia had run off to.

John watched him leave with a frown. 

 

-

 

"And then _Laf_ said he had to go apologize to _her_!" John ranted angrily, scrubbing the dishes with viciousness. "I can't believe this shit- she's the most irritating, obnoxious, rude-"

"We get it." Hercules said quickly. "But Laf loves her."

Alexander, unfortunately, was doing nothing to help calm John down. "Yeah, but she doesn't deserve it!" Alex seethed. "She's constantly getting upset with him, she's always making him choose between us and her... _god_ I wish they would just break up!"

John nodded violently, scaring Hercules to death when he nearly dropped a plate on the floor in anger. 

"We need to break them up!" He declared. 

Hercules' jaw dropped. "Are you actually fuckin' kidding me, John? Break up Laf and his _girlfriend_ , just because you're throwing a hissy fit? Going behind our friend's back on a mission to break him up with his girlfriend? That's low."

Alex and John exchanged sheepish glances. Hercules took a deep breath.

"I'm not super happy about Natalia and Laf either, right? But I'm not going to try and break them up. Let's just make an effort, okay- see if she does the same. If not, then we _talk to Laf about it_ , we don't break the relationship up ourselves."

John turned back to the dishes, reluctantly nodding. "Alright... I'll try to be civil, or whatever."

Alexander rolled his eyes and took a huge swig of coffee. "I'll be civil as long as she is," He muttered darkly.

Well, it was something. 

 

-

 

Later that afternoon, Lafayette returned to the flat with his hand linked in Natalia's. She smiled up at him dreamily. His smile was only the tiniest bit strained. 

 

-

 

"It's time, it's time it's time!" Lafayette squealed, his usual enthusiasm returned. John, Alex, and Herc each shared a look of general amused fondness as they watched their friend bounce around the room in excitement. The season premiere of Project Runway was recorded, and on that particular season, Lafayette's friend from across the country would be a contestant. 

He had been gushing about it for months, and finally the time had arrived. 

Alexander grinned at the thought. The four of them hadn't had a proper TV-marathon or movie night since Natalia had barged in on their lives, and it wasn't the same without Laf. Cue popcorn, blankets, comfy clothes, cuddles, and the critiques that Herc and Laf were going to be making throughout the whole episode while John and Alex laughed at them. 

"We've waited long enough," John laughed back, flopping onto the couch.

Lafayette waited until Alexander and Hercules had gotten into place, as well, before climbing on top of all of their legs and lying down horizontally across all of them. 

"I hope Adrienne is not the first to go home," Laf whispered, nearly shaking in excitement as Herc grabbed the remote and pressed play.

Three seconds. Exactly.

Exactly three seconds, they had been watching for _three fucking seconds_ , and then there was a knock at the front door. 

"Let's ignore it," Alexander suggested immediately. "Pretend like we're not here, and then we won't have to talk to anyone from the outside world again!" 

Laf just froze for a moment of hesitation before shaking his head, all traces of excitement drained. He slowly stood up and walked over to the door. "If it's Natalia, I really need to-" He started, silencing himself as he opened the door. 

Speak of the devil.

Alexander felt his face automatically pull into a frown as Natalia pushed past Lafayette to walk inside. He glanced at John, who was also glaring, and Herc, who looked like he was just managing to restrain his irritation. 

"Natalia, I-" Laf started, his face stretching into an almost pained smile. Natalia wasn't smiling, though.

"I texted you! I've been texting you for the last hour, and you haven't even responded!" She exploded. It felt like an inappropriate conversation to have while Alex, John, and Herc were sitting just meters away on the couch, the Project Runway episode paused. 

Laf scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, my phone needed to be charged, and-"

She wasn't done, apparently.

"And what took you so long to answer the door? I thought we could go out to the cafe I was telling you about, but no, you just sit here- you know, not everyone can be as lazy as you are, Lafayette! I'm the only one doing anything for this relationship?"

Alexander- _nonstop Alexander_ \- was having a difficult time keeping up with Natalia's angry ranting, which was saying something. 

"Hey, what the fuck-" Alex started, but his jaw clamped shut when Natalia whirled in his direction, her face utterly furious. 

"This is a personal conversation," She snapped. 

Alex gritted his teeth, ignoring Laf's worried expression, begging him to leave it alone. "No, no- it's not a personal conversation when all you're doing is talking shit about Laf, it's not a personal conversation when you barge into _our_ apartment and start yelling at one of us."

And just like that, Natalia's face crumpled into tears. 

Alex froze as she began crying, completely off-guard. From behind him, John muttered something not-so-nice. 

Lafayette's eyes widened to saucers as he desperately tried to fix everything. " _Alexandre_ , stop," Laf said, but there was no heat to it, only a pleading note in his voice that made Alex back down. Lafayette reached out to his girlfriend, then retreated as she slapped his hand away.

"I can't believe you let your friends treat me like this," Natalia whispered in a wounded voice. "I just w-wanted to spend time with you..."

"And I want to spend time with you, _mon amour_ , whatever I can do, let's go do it!" Lafayette responded quickly. "I would be glad to spend time with you, Natalia, whatever it is... ah- the... the cafe you were telling me about! Let's go there, _oui_?"

Natalia's face immediately brightened and Alex wanted to scream at how fake the whole thing had been.

Herc cleared his throat a little before Laf's girlfriend could respond, though. "Uh- Laf, what about Project Runway...? You've been waiting for _months_."

"Yeah, if you want to stay here and watch TV... instead of spending time with your girlfriend?" Natalia cut in, glaring towards Laf. 

The three of them, still sitting on the couch, glanced among themselves and shared the mutual dislike of the girl. There was no way Lafayette could stay and watch when she phrased the question like that. At least, not without looking like a jerk. 

Lafayette quickly shook his head, looking apologetically back at Herc. "That's alright, I would much rather spend time with Natalia... I can watch it later." 

"Right!" Natalia said perkily, going on her tip-toes to give a peck on Laf's cheek. "Then let's go."

Herc, Alex, and John could only watch as she dragged Lafayette out the door, pyjamas and all. Alex reached over and turned the TV off, knowing that there was no way in hell they were about to watch the show without their favorite French fashionista at their side. 

 

-

 

"Hey, Laf?"

Lafayette pulled his head off his pillow to look at Hercules. "Yes, _mon ami_? What is it?" 

He sounded so tired. The enthusiasm that usually brightened his voice was all but gone, replaced with an exhausted weariness. Laf had been with Natalia all day, only coming home at eleven o'clock. It was now quarter to midnight. 

Hercules shut Laf's bedroom door behind him and sat down on the bed where Lafayette was lying. 

"Are you alright?" Herc asked quietly. 

Laf coughed a little. "Why would I not be?"

There was a long note of silence before Hercules finally blurted out the thing that everyone had been wanting to say for weeks. 

"Laf... Natalia isn't good to you." 

If the silence before had been bad, this was ten times worse. Hercules closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for whatever reaction was bound to come- anger, yelling, tears- he was ready. Lafayette's breath hitched but otherwise, he remained quiet.

"I'm not a good boyfriend," Laf finally said. "I seem to be doing everything wrong, _ami_ , I can't... I don't understand what you mean, Herc, by 'Natalia isn't good', when I am the one who keeps making these mistakes."

Hercules would've rather had a screaming, sobbing Lafayette mess than a subdued one. 

This wasn't like Laf at all.

"You didn't do _anything_ wrong, Laf. You hear me? Not one fucking thing," Herc seethed. "Natalia is the one manipulating you, and John and Alex see it too, she-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Laf finally snapped, leaning back down to his pillow and hunching over under the blankets. "I want to sleep now."

"Laf-"

"Herc, I'm _tired_ ," Laf begged, and Herc finally nodded, not wanting to push anything. The bigger man gave Laf a little pat on the shoulder before standing up and walking towards the door. 

"Hey, I'm not going to make you talk. But- seriously- just, if you need to... or want to, or whatever? I'm always right here, man."

That earned him a weak smile.

" _Merci, mon ami_ ," Laf said, and Hercules left the room.

 

-

 

"We can't push for anything," Hercules decided. 

Alex and John looked over him, upset by the news but resigned to the facts. They couldn't pressure Laf to do anything, or to talk to them, or to break up with Natalia. They just had to be there for him when he needed it and support him through it all.

"You're right," John sighed, rubbing his eyes. He tried not to think about Laf and Natalia in the other room.

The three of them sat morosely on the couch, once again, sitting and thinking in the silence. 

_"You're what?!"_

The shrill, outraged cry came from Lafayette's bedroom and it was most definitely Natalia, freaking out about god-knows what, once again. They all shared a look, stiffening as a door could be heard opening. Natalia came bounding down the hall from Laf's bedroom. 

He was following quickly behind, looking embarrassed, frustrated, and guilty all at once. Neither Laf nor Natalia seemed to notice the three other roommates sitting on the couch, watching the events unfold.

"Natalia, wait-"

"Don't 'Natalia' me, you manwhore!" 

Alex noticed the tears building behind the curly-haired man's eyes as he reached out to grab Natalia's arm. "It's not like that, I love you- I just wanted you to know, _mon amour_ , I just thought you should be aware-"

Natalia swung around and shoved one finger into Lafayette's chest. "You are the most selfish, horrible person I've ever had the misfortune of meeting- oh, you and your 'identity labels', covering up the fact that you're just a fucking whore who is going to cheat on me!"

"I would never cheat on you!" Lafayette cried. 

But Natalia was not finished.

"You're insensitive, you would rather choose your friends over your own _girlfriend_ \-- You're lucky to have me, Lafayette, because no one else in their right mind would ever fall for someone like you! And now, after everything you've put me through, you have the audacity to try and cover up the fact that you're a goddamn _whore_ with 'pansexuality'?! That's not real! You're-"

"Shut the fuck up," Herc growled, standing up from the couch. 

Natalia turned to him in surprise, as if she hadn't noticed him. Then her face hardened. "It's none of your concern," She hissed. 

"Yeah, actually it is our fucking concern," John cut in, following Herc's lead to go over and stand next to their friend. Alex quickly followed suit, looking just as murderous. "When you insult our friend- when you fuckin' spit out all this bullshit about him-"

Lafayette was looking at his roommates in surprise.

Alex walked over to Lafayette and none-too-softly pushed Natalia's hand away from Laf's chest. "Lafayette is the sweetest person you'll ever meet and you've treated him like trash, no matter how much he sacrifices for you or pretends like it's his fault, nor yours."

Natalia took a step back, her knuckles going white around the handle of her extremely expensive purse. 

"Guys-" Laf tried to interject, but Hercules wrapped an arm around him comfortingly. 

"And actually, yeah, Pansexuality is real, and it does _not_ mean Laf is going to sleep with everyone- and it doesn't mean he's going to cheat, either- and you should be flattered that he actually trusted you enough to tell you something so personal. So if you're just going to insult him, you _can leave_ and don't come back," Herc snarled.

Natalia left.

 

-

 

Immediately following her exit, Lafayette would have collapsed onto the floor if Hercules hadn't been holding onto him. Immediately tears flew out of Laf's eyes, glistening against his dark skin. He sobbed into John's hair and he clutched onto Alex's arms and he wept while Herc held him tightly.

"I tried so hard-" Laf choked, his accent thickening with the heartbreak.

"You did everything just right," Alex soothed him. "It was her fault, none of it was your fault, Laf."

The man shook violently. "Oh, _merde_ , I came out, I tried to _explique_ what pansexuality is-" 

"And she was an ignorant, bigoted bitch," John finished for him. 

The three of them embraced Lafayette while he cried, they consoled him while he tried to explain how he tried to fix the relationship that had quickly fallen apart, how he was so tired of dealing with the insults and the controlling behavior and-

And Herc led them over to the couch, and they wrapped themselves in blankets and quilts while Laf hiccuped and started letting out little, embarrassed laughs. "I'm- _merde_ , how you say- _réagir en exagération_?"

Alex smiled kindly. "Overreacting is the word. But you're not overreacting, Laf, it's all okay."

"We're going to watch Project Runway now, because it's long overdue, don't you think?" Hercules asked, weaving one hand through Laf's curls while he turned on the television with the other. John and Alex curled up by them and together they just sat and watched.

Halfway through the show, during a commercial break, Lafayette let out a contented sigh.

"I am relieved," He admitted. "That Natalia is not my girlfriend any longer."

They all grinned, knowing that really, they were all relieved.

**Author's Note:**

> first of all token apology to everyone who read to the end  
> good lord why did you read all of it
> 
> I'm sorry?? it's late and I can never tell if it's good or not so this might be horrible and y'all can just ignore it's existence and go read some texting AUs or something
> 
> apologies for google translate french  
> apologies for too much dialogue?  
> apologies for confusing plot???  
> lame ending 
> 
> o god o god everytime I post a hamilton fanfic I get an anxiety attack wondering if people are going to love it or hate it T_T


End file.
